Antidepressants Cause Suicide and Violence

People Committing Suicide While on Antidepressants or Trying to Get Off Them. This is Bob. Bob thinks he’s depressed. Poor Bob. This is Bob’s doctor: Dr. Avg. Bob visits his doctor. Doctor diagnoses Bob. Bob’s doctor (like most didn’t take the time to use the right method), but Bob trusts his doctor. Poor Bob. [Point: Doctors do not research, develop, or manufacture prescription drugs. The only training most doctors receive about prescription medication is from pharmaceutical sales reps. Most pharmacists know more about antidepressants than doctors do.]

Bob gets prescription [from doctor]. Poor Bob. Do you think he was well informed? Bob doesn’t know this [taking medication] could change his life forever…

SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors)antidepressants sold as Paxil and Prozac, among others, are used by millions of adults and children for depression. But are the antidepressants doing what they are supposed to? After reviewing two dozen clinical studies, the FDA Advisory Panel now says these drugs [antidepressants] cause a small, but increased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior. Symptoms include: suicidal thoughts, suicide and withdrawal symptoms.

Investigating the link between antidepressants and violence: Tragedies like this one in Pennsylvania and the one in Colorado last week seem to be inexplicable. But listen to this: More often than not, antidepressants are involved. In Colorado, for instance, Police found antidepressant in Duane Morrison’s Jeep.

Symptoms that antidepressants are supposed to be treating, actually make them worse…

The nightmare started when she noticed her, then 14 year old daughter Michelle, was not her usual self after a family move and a change in schools. “It was a very hectic time,” Lisa, Michelle’s mother. Michelle stopped eating, couldn’t concentrate in class, so doctors prescribed her Zoloft, then Paxil, both are antidepressants. Instead of improvements, Lisa noticed new problems.

Now lots of new studies show antidepressants not only don’t prevent suicide but they actually cause suicide and violence. So, why are so many people still taking them?

Woody Summer (?) was feeling anxious about a new job, not sleeping well. His doctor prescribed the popular antidepressant Zoloft and after a few weeks doubled the dose. Kim [his wife] said Woody had no history of mental illness but soon he was losing his mind.

“I didn’t know what was happening because this was the guy who was always in control of everything in his life,” Kim Witczak, Woody’s wife. Five weeks after Woody started Zoloft, Kim got a phone call, “’Woody’s dead!’ I was like what do you mean ‘Woody’s dead?’”

“He’s hanging.”

Dr. David Healy, a psychiatrist in the U.K. and an expert on how drugs work, says antidepressants like Zoloft made by Pfizer are effective, he even prescribes them. But he says they can make things worse for some patients and in rare cases cause suicide.

But are these antidepressants being used in the wrong way?
While serving as an expert witness against Pfizer in a lawsuit, Healy reviewed unpublished tests of Zoloft on healthy people. “When pharmaceutical companies give these pills to healthy volunteers who aren’t depressed at all, some of the healthy volunteers have gone to commit suicide,“ Dr. David Healy, antidepressant medication expert.

“There must be people out there who have felt these feelings and nobody believes them because nobody knows that this is real.”

“The worrying thing is we may be literally talking about millions of people,” Dr. Healy.

The real problem with antidepressants is how many people are taking them. Right now, that’s about 30 million Americans. Studies show that about 5% of them will develop mania. If you do the math, that’s about a million and a half potential maniacs waiting to explode. In a country with about 300 million (the U.S.), over 150 million prescriptions were written for antidepressants.

The problem really begins, they say, with diagnoses. According to Harold Koplewicz, founder of New York University’s Child Study Center, most antidepressants for children are prescribed by primary care physicians, untrained at detecting real mental illness.

“Depression doesn’t have a blood test. Depression takes a very extensive evaluation that takes time and time costs money,” Dr. Koplewicz.

Though doctors have been warned. We do know that the FDA have recently warned doctors that antidepressants can cause both suicidal and homicidal thoughts. In a 2004 survey of physicians, over 80% of their patients were oversubscribed . Even doctors say they feel pressured to prescribe without knowing all they should. Between 1998 and 2002, the use of prescription medication by children between the ages of 0 and 5 jumped 49%. Tested and approved for use in adults, SSRIs are prescribed for children, too. Although only one drug is approved for children: Prozac.

The withdrawal symptoms can make antidepressants a life-long decision. The I-Team has learned that suicide is not the only problem that experts associate with drugs like Zoloft. Thousands of people have complained about withdrawal symptoms while trying to get off antidepressant medication even though the drug companies say the drugs are not habit-forming.

The only way to diagnose depression? Psychoanalysis [It’s one way. There are other ways because depression also has a biological component that psychoanalysis alone cannot solve. ]

According to a government advisory panel, antidepressants actually increase suicidal thinking and behavior in children and teenagers. So, the panel is calling for stronger warnings to alert parents and doctors about this risk, “Emily Senay, M.D.

You had a relative who had a bad time [Kennedy’s 2002 report on anti-depressants led to hearings] on antidepressants. Describe that to me.

“My brother in-law committed suicide while withdrawing from anti-depressant, nortriplyline, an older antidepressant. It was totally out of character. He was a loving man. We miss him dearly.”

One solution is to give prescription power only to psychiatrists [This would make the situation worse, as drugs don’t solve problems, the only mask them. And psychiatrists, particularly the APA (American Psychiatric Association) are in bed with the pharmaceutical companies. ]

“As the founder of The Able Child, they [parents of children who are taking prescription drugs] come to us all the time. Their children are committing suicide on these [antidepressant] drugs and very concerned. It’s a public health issue.”

How many more people have to die? When doctors upped Michelle’s dose, things got drastically worse. “They increased the Paxil to 40 milligrams is when she had her first suicide attempt,” Michelle’s mother.

The world needs to know [the dangers of these antidepressant drugs.] Michelle’ struggle is the reason Lisa van Sickel (?) went to Washington today to testify at an FDA meeting on whether antidepressants should be given to children. Of the drugs being discussed (Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, Luvox, Celexa, Wellbutrin, Effexor, Serzone, Remeron), only Prozac is actually approved for use under age 18. Something van Sickel (?) never knew. “If I knew, I would have never let my daughter take it.”

“I think that people need to be informed about these [antidepressant] drugs. I know I wasn’t. Woody wasn’t,” Kim, whose husband committed suicide while on antidepressants.